Transcript School Function Assessment

School Function
Assessment
Emily Gannon
Jenny Hasler
Purpose
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The School Function Assessment was designed
to help identify a student’s strengths and
limitations while performing school related
functional tasks.
This information helps identify the areas where
intervention is needed and aids in developing
program planning for students with different
types of disabling conditions.
What is School Function?
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Nonacademic Aspects of a School Program
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Manipulating books and tools for writing
Moving around classroom or school
Interacting with peers during learning tasks
Three Parts of Test:
Part I- Participation: examines the students’
participation levels during six major school
activities
- Regular or special education classroom
- Playground or recess
- Transportation to and from school
- Bathroom and toileting activities
- Transitions to and from classroom
- Mealtime or snack time
Three Parts of Test:
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Part II- Task Supports: examines types of
supports the student is provided with when
he/she performs school-related functional
tasks.
Two types of Task Supports:
1. Assistance (adult help)
2. Adaptations (wheelchair, etc.)
Three Parts of Test:
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Part III- Activity Performance: examines how
the student performs during specific schoolrelated functional activities
 Physical Activity Performance
 Cognitive/Behavioral Activity
Performance
Example Question
Maintaining and Changing Positions
*Maintains adequate posture for at least ½ hour
during classroom instruction.
1=Does not Perform
2=Partial Performance
3=Inconsistent Performance
4= Consistent Performance
SFA
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Item type: Likert Scale
Level of measurement: Ordinal- levels of
function are arranged in order, but intervals
between levels are not of equal size.
*children are graded against peers, not against a
“norm” for that age/grade.
Directions for taking SFA
The test is administered to 1 or more school
officials that know the student well.
( teacher, aide, OT, PT, SLP, or other school
persons.)
 Only some sections must be completed…but
every question in those sections must have an
answer.
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Scoring
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Part I : Participation scale
1- Participation extremely limited.
2- Participation in a few activities
3- Participation in all aspects with constant
supervision
4- Participation in all aspects with occasional
assistance
5- Modified participation
6- Full participation
Scoring
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Part II: Task Supports
(Scale for assistance)
1-Extensive assistance
2-Moderate Assistance
3-Minimal Assistance
4-No Assistance
Scoring
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Part II :Task Supports
(Scale for Adaptations)
1-Extensive adaptations
2-Moderate adaptations
3-Minimal adaptations
4-No adaptations.
Scoring
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Part III :Activity Performance
Scale for activity performance
1-Does not perform
2-Partial performance
3-Inconsistent Performance
4-Consistent performance
More Scoring
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Add numbers in each section to get Raw Score
Scoring tables are in the back of the
manual…Criterion and Standard Error Scores
are looked up using the Raw Score.
Safety Issues
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Stress
Time/Change over time
No Unanswered Questions
Reliability
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Reliability is consistency or dependability of
scores across different occasions or examiners
for assessments
Internal Consistency reflect the extent to which
items within a scale are related to one another.
Test- Retest provides a measure that the
student’s performance is constant across
different testing occasions.
Reliability
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The Internal Consistency for the SFA is 0.920.98
Test-Retest- is .82-.98
*(the closer to +1.0 the higher the reliability)
Validity
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Content Validity
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Items effectively sample the universe of content.
Construct Validity
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Measures what the testers are looking for and how
valid it is.
Validity
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Two content validity studies were completed.
-First one rated the comprehensiveness and
relevance of the items
-Second provided and evaluation of the relevance,
comprehensiveness, and usefulness of the items
and rating scales.
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Construct Validity was tested and was found to
have excellent predictive and discriminative
power
SFA
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Practicality Costs: $175
Includes User's Manual, 25 Record Forms, and 3-8
page Rating Scale Guides
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Utility
Expensive
Training
References
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Law, Mary, Baum, Carolyn, and Dunn,
Winnie. Measuring Occupational
Performance. 2nd Edition. Slack Incorporated,
2005.
Coster, W., Deeney, T., Haltinger, J., & Haley,
S. (1998). School Function Assessment
User’s Manual. San Antonio, Texas: The
Psychological Corporation